Custom Boxes: How To Create Custom Boxes & Packaging

In today’s overcrowded e-commerce landscape, businesses need to find unique and attention-grabbing ways of standing out from the competition. One great strategy for doing this is through custom packaging — particularly with custom boxes.

Custom boxes allow a business’ brand to travel throughout every step in the shipping and handling process, ensuring that customers are left with an unforgettable impression at each touchpoint. Take a look at this guide to customize boxes and packaging for e-commerce brands.

In the meantime, remember to get in touch with Print Bind Ship to order your custom product box!

What Is a Custom Box?

The way we shop has drastically changed since the advent of the internet. In 2022, U.S. e-commerce revenue racked up a total of $904.9 billion, and estimates suggest that this number is likely to increase going forward. Online shopping produces an incredible increase in packaged and shipped goods, creating an opportunity for businesses to use custom-print boxes as another way to educate consumers about their offerings.

Branded products and shipping boxes are essential for marketing-savvy companies. Custom packaging serves to legitimize and advertise the organization within the marketplace. Using product boxes to boost brand visibility and enhance the customer experience is a smart strategy.

Let’s take a deeper look into what it takes to customize boxes for product packaging and shipping.

Can You Customize Cardboard Boxes?

Yes, you certainly can! The variations available to customize cardboard boxes are nearly limitless. Cardboard packages and shipping boxes lend themselves extraordinarily well to customization in both form and functionality. Cardboard boxes protect and preserve contents while resisting folds, tears, and breakage.

Plus, they are available in a variety of different sizes and thicknesses. Whether you’re looking for a standard box or want to invent something original and unique, customized cardboard boxes are one of the easiest and least expensive options for creating your branded packaging collection.

Benefits of Using Custom Packaging

We’ve learned a lot about some of the marketing and packaging solutions that a custom box creation can offer your brand. Here are some other benefits to consider:

Reduced Delivery Costs

Are you using a one-size-fits-all approach to your shipping boxes, filling up the extra space with peanuts and filler? If you are, you’re losing money. It may sound counterintuitive, but customized boxes can save you money. 

Most major carriers have switched to dimensional weight pricing (DIM), which calculates shipping costs on package volume rather than weight, allowing delivery trucks to maximize space. What does this mean for you? Anytime you use an oversized box to ship an item, you’re paying for wasted space.

Protection for Specialty Items

Shipping a small, fragile item in a box that is too large is risky and costly and can result in an unsatisfied customer when their item arrives broken or damaged. Designing custom boxes that are the right size for your products provides natural protection for the item and a much classier presentation.

Increased Brand Awareness

Admit it; you’ve been driving home from work and noticed an interesting package sitting at your neighbor’s door. Sometimes it’s a box style you’re familiar with and recognize immediately, like the distinctive red circles of the Target logo. Sometimes, it’s one you’ve never seen before. 

Just a few days ago I noticed a shipping box sitting at my neighbor’s door that had a beautiful array of botanical flowers printed on a bold black background, with the words fab, fit, fun embellished in the stylized font on the side. What’s fab, fit, fun, I wondered, and why do they have such a cool box? Can you guess what I did when I pulled into my driveway? I googled fab, fit, fun on my phone and found out they’re a subscription health and beauty sample company, and signed up on the spot. Now that is compelling marketing.

Well-designed custom shipping boxes can also maximize your social media exposure. Did you know there are countless viral YouTube channels solely dedicated to the “unboxing experience”? Hosts order boxes from a variety of different e-commerce manufacturers and open the box step-by-step, rating the quality of the experience based on the customization of the boxes and packaging included. Exposure on one of these YouTube channels has been known to triple sales for the featured company overnight.

Consider this: online retail sales are expected to reach $6.51 trillion by the end of 2023. Standing out in that densely populated crowd requires finding innovative methods to differentiate your brand. Custom shipping boxes demonstrate that you care about the presentation of your product and deepen the connection your brand makes with its target audience.

4 Types of Custom Boxes

Choosing which custom box solution is right for you deserves careful consideration. The main three components of customization to consider are:

• Printed boxes for your product
• Mailer boxes
• Shipping boxes

1. Custom Shipping Boxes

The custom box industry is booming. If you have any doubt about custom box popularity, consider the following: sales for customized shipping boxes are expected to top over 35 million in the coming years. If you ship products to consumers, you’re going to want to consider designing a custom shipping box, not just for the sake of branding but also to remain competitive in today’s saturated online marketplace.

Several factors determine the best custom shipping box for your company. If you sell a variety of products, consider if you’ll require multiple shipping box sizes. If you’re shipping fragile or perishable items, you’ll need to work with a designer to determine the thickness of the box and if any inserts or protective inner packaging are needed.

Finally, you’ll want to consider how to incorporate your brand in your custom shipping boxes. If the color scheme is a significant aspect of your brand, you might want colorful shipping boxes. For popularizing your logo or tagline, consider how to include them on a package with maximum exposure. When it comes to custom shipping box design, your choices are vast, so make sure you carefully consider a shipping box that best represents you.

2. Specialty Boxes

Have a unique product that requires a special design? Crafting a specialty box that showcases your product can be a major factor in how your customers experience your brand. A positive customer interaction translates into brand loyalty.

Here’s a great example of how a specialty box design can build customer satisfaction and engagement. In an effort to get healthy, a coffee drinker started replacing their frequent daily caffeinated coffee infusions with tea. In shopping for options, they happened upon Hanger Tea, which had a five-star rating and multiple positive reviews. Critics talked little about the flavor of the teas but went on and on about how much they loved the packaging. Of course, this coffee drinker was intrigued and ordered it. And guess what arrived? Tea bags on little cardboard hangers in a closet-shaped box. Now that’s great packaging!

By designing a specialty box for your products, you’re providing added value to your customers beyond the product inside. It tells customers you care about your products. This practice boosts recognition and loyalty to your brand and can create lots of online buzz.

3. Custom Mailer Boxes

Custom mailer boxes can include many design elements and brand signifiers. Typically made of corrugated cardboard, they also offer the added benefit of protecting your products during shipping. Sending products via mail is typically less expensive than other delivery methods, saving your customers shipping and handling charges.

These days, much of our mail includes flyers we don’t have the time or inclination to review. Providing your customers with an attractive, exciting package in their mailbox is a terrific way of standing out among the crowd while giving customers a little added boost when they pick up their mail. For example, the popular beauty subscription service Ipsy recently upgraded its custom mailer boxes to a bold pink, their brand color. When subscribers go to their mailbox, they have an instantly recognizable pink box that, undoubtedly, they open eagerly.

4. Custom Boxes for Small Businesses

For a small business, finding a way to stand out in the hectic eCommerce market can be challenging. Crafting a custom box solution is functional and provides a relatively inexpensive, consistent marketing tool that can set your business apart.

How to Make Custom Boxes in 3 Easy Steps

Now that you realize the enormous marketing benefits that can be derived from investing in custom boxes, you’re likely wondering where to start. Designing your packaging solution is easy and fun.

1. Select a Box Style

To begin, you’ll want to assess your needs and determine which custom box choice will best align with your products, shipping methods and marketing goals. Does your operation almost exclusively use USPS for delivery? Then you’ll want to design a custom mailer box. Are you planning to multiply your shipping output? Crafting a custom shipping box is likely your best bet. Hoping to gain recognition as a unique product offering in a crowded field? A specialty product box can achieve that for you quickly and confidently.

2. Pick a Size

The next step of the process will be determining the sizes you require for your packaging box. Make sure the sizes you pick coincide closely with the products inside; a pair of earrings arriving in a large shipping box will make your brand look funny and will make consumers think you don’t care about the presentation or how much they pay for shipping costs. If your brand ships different-sized products, make sure you order custom boxes that will work for all of them.

3. Custom Design Your Box

How do you put a logo on a box? If you’re working with a custom box solution expert like Print Bind Ship, you’ll able to do it with ease. Whether you have an existing template or your own logo or you’re starting from scratch, a custom box design expert will be able to translate your ideas into a great-looking package.

Benefits of Using Custom Packaging

We’ve learned a lot about some of the marketing and packaging solutions that a custom box creation can offer your brand. Here are some other benefits to consider.

Reduced Delivery Costs

Are you using a one-size-fits-all approach to your shipping boxes, filling up the extra space with peanuts and filler? If you are, you’re losing money. It may sound counterintuitive, but customized boxes can save you money. Most major carriers have switched to dimensional weight pricing (DIM), which calculates shipping costs on package volume rather than weight, allowing delivery trucks to maximize space. What does this mean for you? Anytime you use an oversized box to ship an item, you’re paying for wasted space.

Protection for Specialty Items

Shipping a small, fragile item in a box that is too large is risky and costly and can result in an unsatisfied customer when their item arrives broken or damaged. Designing custom boxes that are the right size for your products provides natural protection for the item and a much classier presentation.

Increased Brand Awareness

Admit it; you’ve been driving home from work and noticed an interesting package sitting at your neighbor’s door. Sometimes it’s a box style you’re familiar with and recognize immediately, like the distinctive red circles of the Target logo. Sometimes, it’s one you’ve never seen before. Just a few days ago I noticed a shipping box sitting at my neighbor’s door that had a beautiful array of botanical flowers printed on a bold black background, with the words fab, fit, fun embellished in the stylized font on the side. What’s fab, fit, fun, I wondered, and why do they have such a cool box? Can you guess what I did when I pulled into my driveway? I googled fab, fit, fun on my phone and found out they’re a subscription health and beauty sample company, and signed up on the spot. Now that is compelling marketing.

Well-designed custom shipping boxes can also maximize your social media exposure. Did you know there are countless viral YouTube channels solely dedicated to the “unboxing experience”? Hosts order boxes from a variety of different eCommerce manufacturers and open the box step-by-step, rating the quality of the experience based on the customization of the boxes and packaging included. Exposure on one of these YouTube channels has been known to triple sales for the featured company overnight.

Consider this: online retail sales are expected to reach $6.51 trillion by the end of 2023. Standing out in that densely populated crowd requires finding innovative methods to differentiate your brand. Custom shipping boxes demonstrate that you care about the presentation of your product and deepen the connection your brand makes with its target audience.

How Much Does it Cost to Make a Custom Box?

Probably less than you think. Many variables factor into the overall cost: size, shape, material, quantity, and how much branding you want to include. It’s important to do your homework. Providers like Print Bind Ship offer high-quality products and design services for a reasonable cost and will closely work with you to ensure you get the best ROI. Get in touch for a free quote for your project!

A custom product box may be just the thing you need to upgrade your brand and connect with customers in a new way!

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